Polaris Online Database becomes truly online!

Polaris is pleased to announce that its Online Database (“POD”) is now available via web browsers, rather than requiring users to download and install an application.

The POD has been in use for well over 20 years and is used by insurers, software houses and others in developing personal lines insurance products. It holds all of the Polaris (formerly ABI) code lists, along with message definitions and structures for EDI messaging.

Until now, it has only been possible to use the POD by installing a local version of the database. This has worked well, but is showing signs of age, so a new approach was chosen after discussions with stakeholders.

Polaris worked closely with Incited, who developed the online solution, and with a number of stakeholders to carry out user testing. Nick Turner, Co-founder and Chief Data Architect at Incited said:

“It has been our pleasure to work with Polaris in building a system that will provide their users with a greatly improved experience and the ability to more easily access the information they need to support their e-trading activities.”

The POD is available to Polaris Standards subscribers via the 'Resources' menu option on the Polaris website, or directly here.

Polaris’ Standards Manager Steve Waller said:

"We are delighted to be able to release a service that our users have been asking for and makes accessing our Standards so much easier. We are interested to hear their feedback and will continue to refine this in future.”